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Gaut. The nymphs muft have been commiffioned by the goodness of the king's fortune, to predict the acceffion of brighter ornaments in his palace. [Sacontala locks mod ft. Pup. I must haften to Canna, who is gone to bathe in the Malini, and let him know the fignal kindness of the wood nymphs. [He goes out. Anu. My fweet friend, I lit.le expected fo fplendid a drefs-how hall I adjuft it properly?—[Co Jidering.] On my kill in painting will fu ply me with fome hints; and 1 will difpofe the drapery according to

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CANNA enters meditating. Can. [fide.] This day muft Sacontala depart that is refolved: yet my foul is fmitten with angu fh. My fpeech is interrupted by a torrent of tears, which my reafon fuppreffes and turns inward my very fight is dimmed. Strange, that the aflict or of a forefter, retired from the haunts of men, fhould be fo exceffive!-Oh, with what pangs muft they, who are fathers of families, be afflicted on the departure of a daughter!

[He walks round mufing. Pri. Now, my Sacontala, you are becomingly decorated: put on this lower veft, the gift of fylvan goddes fes. [Sacontala rifes and puts on

the mantle.

Gaut. My child, thy fpiritual father, whofe eyes overflow with tears of joy, ftands defiring to embrace thee. Hatten therefore to do him

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Can.

My best beloved, come and walk with me round the facrificial fire.-They all advance.] May these fires preferve thee! fires which spring to their appointed ftations on the holy hearth, and confume the confecrated wood, while the fresh,blades of myfterious Cufa lie fcattered around th m! facramental fires, which deftr y fin with the rifing fumes of clarified butter !—[Sacontala walks with folemnity round the hearth.] Now fet out, my darling, on thy suficious journey. [Looking round.] Where are the attendants, the two Mitras?

Enter SARNGARAVA and Saradwata,

Both. Holy fage, we are here. Can. My fon Sarngarava, how thy fifter her way.

Sarn. Come, damfel.

[7 bey all advance.

Can. Hear, O ye trees of this hallowed foreft; ye trees, in which the fylvan goddeffes have their a bode; hear, and proclaim, that Sacontala is going to the place of her wedded lord; the who drank not, though thirsty, before you were watered; the who cropped not, through af fection for you, one of your freth leaves, though the would have been pleafed with fuch an ornament for ber locks; fhe whofe chief delight was in the feafon when your branches are pangled with flowers! [Chorus of invifible wood nymphs.] May her way be attended with profperity! May propitious breezes fprinkle, for her delight, the odoriferous duft of rich bioffoms: May pools of clear water, green with the leaves of the lotos, re fresh her as the walks! and may fhady branches be her defence from the fcorching fun-beams!

[All liften with admiration.

Sarn. Was that the voice of the Cocila withing a happy journey to Sacontala? Or did the nymphs, who are allied to the pious inbabi ants of thefe woods, repeat the warblings of

the

the mufical bird, and make its greetings their own?

Gaut. Daughter, the fylvan goddeffes, who love their kindred hermits, have wished you profperity, and are entitled to humble thanks. . [Sacontała walks round, bowing to the nymphs.

Sac. [Afide to Priyamvada.] Delighted as I am, O Priyamvada, with the thought of feeing again the son of my lord, yet, on leaving this grove, my early afylum, I am fcarce able to walk.

Pri. You lament not alone.Mark the affliction of the foreft itself, when the time of your departure approaches The female antelope browses no more on the collected cufa grafs and the pea hen ceafes to dance on the lawn: the very plants of the grove, whofe pale leaves fall on the ground, lofe their ftrength and

their beau

Sac. Venerable father, fuffer me to addrefs this Madhavi creeper, whofe red bloffoms enflame the grove. Can. My child, I know thy affection for it.

Sac. [Embracing the plant.] O moft radiant of twining plants, receive my embraces, and return them with thy flexible arms: from this day, though removed to a fatal distance, I fhall for ever be thine.

O beloved father, confider this creeper as myself.

Can. My darling, thy amiable qualities have gained thee a husband equal to thyfelf: fuch an event has been long, for thy fake, the chief object of my heart; and now, fince my folicitude for thy marriage is at an end, I will marry thy favourite plant to the bridegroom Amra, who fheds fragrance near her.-Proceed, my chiid, on thy journey.

Sac. [Approaching the two damTels.] Sweet friends, let this Madhavi creeper be a precious depofit in your hands.

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Can. Tears are vain, Anutuya: our Sacontala ought rather to be fupported by your firmness, than weakned by your weeping. [All advance.

Sac Father! when yon female

antelope, who now moves flowly from the weight of the young ones with which he is pregnant, fhall be delimeffage with tidings of her fafety.vered of them, fend me, I beg, a kind Do not forget.

get

Can. My beloved, I will not forit.

Ah! what is it that clings to the Sac. [Advancing, then stopping.] fkirts of my robe, and detains me?

[She turns round and looks. little fawn, whofe mouth, when the Can. It is thy adopted child, the fharp points of Cufa grafs wounded it, has been fo often fmeared by thy hand with healing oil of Ingudi, who handful of Syamaka grain, and now has been fo often fed by thee with a will not leave the footsteps of his protectress.

weep,

Sac. Why doft thou tender fawn, for me, who muft leave our common dwelling place?-As thou waft reared by me when thou hadft loft thy mother, who died foon after thy birth, fo will my foster-father attend thee, when we are feparated, with anxious care. Return, poor thing, return-we must part.

[She bursts into tears.

Can. Thy tears, my child, ill fuit the occafion we fhall all meet again be firm: fee the direct road before thee, and follow it.When the big tear lurks beneath thy beautiful eyelashes, let thy refolution check its firft efforts to difengage itfelf.—In thy paffage over this earth, where the paths are now high, now low, and the true path feldom diftinguished, the traces of thy feet muft needs be unequal; but virtue will prefs thee right onward.

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Sarn. It is a facred rule, holy fage, that a benevolent man fhould accompany a traveller till he meet with abundance of water; and that rule you have carefully obferved; we are now near the brink of a large pool. Give us, therefore, your commands, and return.

Can. Let us reft a while under the fhade of this Vara tree.-[They all go to the fhade.]-What meffage can I fend with propriety to the noble Dushmanta?

Anu. [Afide to Sacontala.] My beloved friend, every heart in our afylum is fixed on you alone, and all are afflicted by your departure.Look; the bird Chacravaca, called by his mate, who is almost hidden by water lilies, gives her no anfwer; but having dropped from his bill the fibres of lotos ftalks which he had plucked, gazes on you with inexpreffible tenderness.

Can. My fon Sarngarava, remember, when thoufhalt prefent Sacontala to the king, to address him thus, in my name : Confidering us hermits as virtuous, indeed, but rich only in devotion, and confidering alfo thy own exalted birth, retain thy love for this girl, which arofe in thy bofom without any interference of her kindred; and look on her among thy wives, with the fame kindness which they experience: more than that cannot be demanded, fince particular affection must depend on the will of

heaven.

Sarn. Your meffage, venerable man, is deeply rooted in my remembrance.

Can. [Locking tenderly at Sacontala.] Now, my darling, thou too must be gently admonished.-We, who are humble forefters, are yet acquainted with the world which we have forfaken.

Sarn. Nothing can be unknown to the wife.

Can. Hear, my daughter. When thou art fettled in the manfion of thy husband, fhow due reverence to him,

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Gan. It is incomparable :-my child, be fure to remember it.

Can. Come, my beloved girl, give a parting embrace to me and to thy tender companions.

Sac. Muft Anufuya and Priyamvada return to the hermitage?

Can. They too, my child, muft be fuitably married; and it would not be proper for them yetto vifit the city; but Gautami will accompany thee.

Sac. [Embracing him.] Removed from the bofom of my father, like a young fandal tree, rent from the hills of Malaya, how thall I exist in a ftrange foil?

Can. Be not fo anxious. When thou shalt be mistress of a family, and confort of a king, thou mayeft, indeed, be occafionally perplexed by the intricate affairs which arife from exuberance of wealth, but wilt then think lightly of this tranfient affliction, efpecially when thou shalt have a fon (and a fon thou wilt have) bright as the rifing day-ftar: who, then, can be immoderately afflicted, when the weaker bands of extrinfic relations are loofened, or even broken?

Sac. [Falling at his feet.] My father, I thus humbly declare my veneration for you.

Can. Excellent girl, may my effort for thy happiness prove fucceffful!

Sac. [Approaching her two companions.] Come then, my beloved friends, embrace me together.

Anu. My friend, if the virtuous monarch fhould not at once recolle&

you,

you, only fhow him the ring on which his own name is engraved.

Sac. [Starting.] My heart flutters at the bare apprehenfion which you have raised.

Pri. Fear not, fweet Sacontala: love always raises ideas of mifery, which are feldom or never realifed. Sarn. Holy fage, the fun has rifen to a confiderable height: let the queen haften her departure.

Sac. [Again embracing Canna.] When, my father, oh! when again fhali I behold this afylum of virtue ? Can. Daughter, when thou fhalt long have been wedded, like this fruitful earth, to the pious monarch, and fhalt have borne him a fon, whofe car fhall be matchlefs in battle, thy lord fhall transfer to him the burden of empire, and thou, with thy Dufhmanta, fhalt again feek tranquillity, before thy final departure, in this loved and confecrated grove.

Gaut. My child, the proper time for our journey paffes away rapidly: fuffer thy father to return.-Go, venerable man, go back to thy manfion, from which he is doomed to be fo long abfent.

Can. Sweet child, this delay interrupts my religious duties.

Sac. You, my father, will perform them long without forrow; but I, alas! am destined to bear affliction.

be

Can. O my daughter, compel me not to neglect my daily devotions [Sighing.] No, my forrow will not diminithed.-Can it ceafe, my beloved, when the plants which rife luxuriantly, from the hollowed grains which thy hand has frown before my cottage, are continually in my fight?-Go, may thy journey profper.

[Sacontala goes out with Gautami and the two Mifras.

Both Damfels. [Looking after Sacontala with angufh.] Alas! alas! our beloved is hidden by the thick trees.

Can. My children, fince your friend is at length departed, check your immoderate grief, and follow [They all turn back.

me.

Both. Holy father, the grove will be a perfect vacuity without Sacontala.

Can. Your affection will certainly give it that appearance. [He talks round, meditating.]-Ah me -Yes; at last my weak mind has attained its due firmness after the departure of my Sacontala.-In truth, a daughter mult fooner or later be the property of another; and, having now fent her to her lord, I find my foul clear and undisturbed, like that of a man who has reftored to its owner, an ineftimable depofit which he long had kept with folicitude. [They go out.

The Hiftory of Madam Tiquet, condemned for attempting the Affaffination of her

Hufband.

HE commiffion of fignal crimes requires no lefs courage and firmnefs of mind, than the atchieving enterprizes of great virtue; nay, one might fay, that there is even a great er degree of refolution neceffary to the former than the latter; because the glory which accompanies heroic atchievments, is a powerful incen

tive to virtuous ambition; whereas

the infamy which awaits the criminal, and the danger that threatens him in his villainous career, are fo many powerful obftacles which require the most intrepid boldness to furmount them. Hence it has been remarked, that if rewards were ad

jude

judged to great crimes, as to extraordinary virtues, the examples of perfons rewarded for notorious villainy, would ftill be more rare than thofe of the other clafs. So that whatever horror, whatever indignation fuch extraordinary criminds may infpire, we cannot help viewing them with a kind of admiration, as perfons endued with extraordinary degrees of fortitude and refolution.

Such are the fentiments we shall have of Madam Tiquet, the hiftory of whofe crime and condemnation I am going to relate.

She was the daughter of a rich bookfeller at Metz, whofe name was Carlier, to whom he was born in the year 1657. To the beauty of her form the joined a certain air of dignity, and a noble mien, which, together th the tallness of her ftature, fomewhat above the middling fize, diftinguished her by a majeftic prefence, which commands refpect and veneration. With all these external accomplishments, Nature had endued her with a fprightly acute turn of mind. Her father left her an orphan, at the age of fifteen, with a million of livres to be divided between her and a younger brother.

Had the only been poffeffed of fo opulent a fortune, fhe would have had lovers in abundance; judge then what a circle of admirers she must have had, when he was both rich, handfome, and ingenious. Among the reft, M. Tiquet, Counsellor of the Parliament of Paris, entered the lift, and had never got the better of his rivals, but by infinuating himself into the good graces of an aunt of his miftrefs, who had a powerful afcendant over that young lady. He fecured this aunt in his intereft, by a kind of eloquence, which, of all others, is the moft perfuafive, and produces effects quick as lightning; he made her a prefent of 4000 livres. Some who had near accels to obferve Mademoifelle Carlier, report, that they remark

ed in her, even at that early time of life, certain indications of a depraved difpofition, which were the fad forerunners of her future crimes. Be that as it will, M. Tiquet, who was entirely bent upon making himself happy in fuch a match, affiduously frequented her company, and ufed all means to gain her affections, efpecially by flattering her pride with rich and magnificent prefents, whereof the aunt took great care to enhance the value; on her birth-day he made her a prefent of flowers intermingled with diamonds, to the value of 15000 li vres. This effectually gained the lady, whofe heart was already shakeŋ by the officious eloquence of the aunt, and the high idea the had conceived of M. Tiquet's riches.. 'Tis little to be wondered if this match proved unhappy, which was contracted upon fuch flight acquaintance, and fuch mercenary confiderations; fomething even lower than charms of perfon was the determining motive with ei ther party. M. Tiquet was fo dazzled with the fplendor of his mist refs's fortune, that he feemed to overlook all the beauties of her perfon; and the again, intoxicated with the chimerical impreffions her aunt had given her of this lover, dreamed of nothing but the high rank and fhowy equipage fhe was to enjoy, by wedding a man of fo great quality and riches.

Thus they united their fortunes for life, equally blinded as to each o ther; he, with refpect to his mistress's virtue, whofe frailty he might cafily have feen through, and her pronenels to expence; and fhe, with refpect to a certain oddity in M. Tiquet's tem per, and an unhappy cait of mind, which rendered him unfit for fociety. They both believed each other to be rich; but the lover was in the right, and the mistress was mistaken. Such are the fteps that lead to deftinies the moft uhappy. The marriage, however, was attended with promifing beginnings, and feemed to have been

folemnized

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